What's it about?
It's about adventuring and surviving as an unemployed person in a suburb called Herwood, which is loosely based on the (legendary) real life suburb Hervanta located in Tampere, Finland. The plot, events and people are fictional.
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| A map of Herwood with some location names hidden. |
What's the game like?
It looks and plays like a 90s DOS game. You loiter around Herwood, talk to people, recycle bottles and cans for money, gather quest items, eat, sleep and do whatever it takes to keep yourself sane. There are multiple endings to the game and several charming people to meet.
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| Herwood's unique HRW/4GW Protected Mode Run-Time technology. |
The game features a 24 hour day/night cycle and a 30 day month cycle. The day cycle mostly affects which places, like stores and bars, are open. At the start of each month cycle the player receives his/her social security benefits.
24 hours fast forwarded.
What's tactical survival-loitering all about?
It's basically about keeping your character's stats, hunger, fatigue and sanity, at tolerable levels.
Hunger is surprisingly dealt with by eating regularly. The game offers a variety of meat and vegetarian food, such as kebab with fries or different pizzas, to keep you going. Obviously food isn't free, so you'll need to bag a lot of recyclables to feed yourself.
A lack of sleep will eventually make you pass out, but luckily there are park benches all around Herwood to sleep on. If you feel like your back can't handle another night of park bench napping, then you can always go home or to a friend's place to sleep in a proper bed.
Taking a nap on a park bench and sleeping in your own bed. Which do you prefer?
Sanity is also handled in a realistic manner. By taking mood-enhancing pills, drinking beer or consuming other pleasurable substances you can keep your character marching on, no matter how boring or horrible his/her life is. If the character's sanity gets low enough, you'll have trouble understanding anything you're doing and get the spiral of madness to circle your vision.
